Aug. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Japonica Partners & Co., the U.S.
investment firm trying to buy as much as 4 billion euros ($5.3
billion) of Greek government debt, extended its tender offer by
a month, without saying how many investors have accepted so far.

Japonica will give bondholders until Aug. 30 to take up the
offer for the securities, the Providence, Rhode Island-based
firm said in a statement today. It’s the second extension since
the firm announced its plan at the start of June.

Japonica in July said it would pay a minimum purchase price
of 40 percent of the bonds principal amount, prompting hedge
funds to question whether anyone will sell because the offer is
below current prices. Greece’s 10-year bonds expiring in 2023
are priced at 58.1 cents on the euro, while 30-year bonds are at
42.92 cents, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

The offer was extended to give bondholders interested in
selling more time to obtain “independent fairness opinions” to
determine the fair value of their Greek debt, Japonica said in
the statement. Japonica said it would consider paying as much as
half the cost of fairness opinions to reimburse investors who
sell their debt at a discount to today’s prices.

Greece is in its sixth year of recession and dependent on
bailout funds from European governments to avoid bankruptcy.
Hedge funds including Third Point LLC and Greylock Capital
Management LLC made money last year by buying the country’s
government bonds, betting that European officials would continue
to rescue the nation from financial collapse to prevent the
region’s debt crisis from spreading.

Japonica, run by former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. banker
Paul Kazarian, is in contact with more than 80 percent of
“large block holders” of Greek bonds, Christopher Magarian,
the firm’s finance director, said in the statement.

A spokesman for the firm declined to comment on how many
investors have accepted the offer so far.